Northam Platinum Holdings Limited (NPH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us for the Northam results presentation for the 6 months ended December 2024. I'd like to welcome our Board members this morning. Thanks for joining us, Geralda, Hester, Emily and our newest Board member, Andre Hanekom. Welcome. Welcome to those of you who are on the lines and a special welcome to all of you who managed to join us in person this morning. The presentation, together with our interim booklet containing very detailed disclosure of the company's performance is available on our website this morning. Thank you once again to Aletta and Damian and the team who have prepared this comprehensive report. As always, we like to describe the pictures on each of the slides as we move along. For those who don't know, this is Platinum in Spanish form. It's the industrial product, which is used mainly in the automotive industry. Here is the usual disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements that we might make today. Please read it in your own time. Thank you. I'll remove some -- sorry, I'll review -- not remove, I'll review some of the key features of the period in which each of the mines have performed well despite very challenging operating environment. In addition, we've continued to progress our project pipeline, particularly in respect of the development of Eland mine, the 3 shaft project at Zondereinde and upgrades to our metallurgical facilities. Aletta will then take us through the financials. And finally, our refresh guidance for the full year. This is the surface works at Zondereinde 3 shaft, which is really starting to take shape, as you can see, a combination of an exceptional ore body, together with the logistical benefits that 3 shaft will bring bodes well for this world-class operation and what a wonderful setting. And just to remind everybody, this is how 3 shaft, look, just 3 years ago when we was just the tent. It's not too difficult to envisage where the capital investment has been made. Despite a challenging operating environment, we have once again posted record production. The rebuild of #2 furnace led to flat sales and total inventory increased to 5,350 -- sorry, 530,000 ounces of 4E. Continued weakness in metal prices led to a marginal decrease in revenue to just over ZAR 14.5 billion, and we maintain our internal focus continuing to place high emphasis on safe production, efficient and sustainable mining at the right cost. Cash conversion and cash preservation remains a particular focus areas but this will not be to the detriment of our growth profile. We continue to progress both Eland and 3 shaft despite the current sentiment. The world needs PGMs and this market will turn. We are fully committed and ready to benefit when it does. The Board has declared an interim dividend of ZAR 0.15 per share, in line with our stated dividend policy of 25% of headline earnings. We've said many times, mining first, metallurgy second, and this is no detriment to the metallurgists. It's rather a reflection of operational risk by far the majority of business risk in the mining industry lies underground and less so on surface. In the past year, we have gradually shifted our focus towards the processing area. In order to maximize the benefit of our mining effort, we have affected and are affecting modular expansions and enhancements to both primary and downstream facilities, improving both recovery and throughput. These pictures of one such initiative. It is a section of the fine particle recovery plant at Eland, and this has improved PGM recovery from underground ore to over 80% with further improvement to come in the coming 18 months in line with the mining ramp up. Similar work on chrome recovery has also led to improving yields with more to come. Moving on to the mining operations themselves. And firstly, safety. This year has marked a record low in the lost time injury frequency rate at Northern with a reduction in accidents across all operations. A trend we are seeing throughout the broader mining industry. Booysendal and Zondereinde remain fatality-free, which are wonderful achievements. But despite this, the period was marked by the tragic passing of 2 of our colleagues at Eland; the first during a barring accident, while shotcreting in a development tunnel and the second related to a conveyor belt engineering incident during maintenance. Supervisor experience and judgment were common factors in both cases. And the management team is working very hard to ensure a strong first-line supervisory layer at the mine. The Board extends condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Sithole and Mr. Makhobo and we are acutely aware of the need to continue our efforts in the pursuit of 0 fatalities. The Board Health and Safety and Environment Committee provides a wealth of experience and strong guidance in support of the management team. Moving on to some of the operational metrics at group level. Tonnes milled increased 3.3% on improved performance of UG2 at Zondereinde and Merensky at Booysendal. Mined metal production grew 3.7% on the back of improved concentrated recoveries at Eland and Zondereinde, as we start to realize the benefits of recent metallurgical investments. Total refined metal decreased by 2.5% as a direct result of the rebuild of #2 furnace. The rebuild was completed at the end of August, and both main furnaces are operating well. As we highlighted previously, this year's sales will be lopsided as a result. Salary and utilities inflation led in the main to an increase in cash cost per 4E ounce of 7.7%. And our cash margin shrank to 20%, reflecting ongoing price weakness. Chrome production improved by 7% with higher UG2 tonnage treated and improved chrome yields across all operations. I will now move on to discuss the mining operations individually and firstly Zondereinde, where the volume benefit of Merensky mining in the West and the move of mining of UG2 to the East is beginning to show through. Additional development requirements as we bed down Merensky did impact mill grades whilst the value of the higher-yielding UG2 reserves on the East is evident. We do have, at the moment, allowable off-reef mining in the Merensky plant in order to de-stress the 3-shaft area. Overall production increased to 165,000 4E ounces with a rise in unit cost of 8%. The completion of #3 shaft in financial year 2026 will lead to improved Merensky grades and further productivity gains in the future. A decline in metal prices resulted in a lower cash margin of 10.5%. Capital expenditure at Zondereinde was restricted to ZAR 960 million and applied to work on #3 shaft, the upgrades to the base metal refinery and the rebuild of #2 furnace. Forecast capital for the remainder of the year is ZAR 1.4 billion, mostly on 3 shaft. Following the rebuild of #2, this is #2 furnace. It is performing well, and this picture illustrates a match-up ahead of transfer of metal to the base metal removal plant. Moving on to Booysendal. We have now exceeded steady-state volumes and all operating sections of the mine now contributing. Mill tonnage grew 3.4%, whilst grades stabilized at 2.6 grams per tonne as we continue to manage split reef, and this is despite an increase in the lower grade Merensky tonnage. The ramp-up of the North Merensky module is complete and the South Merensky module, as previously discussed, remains on hold in the light of current market conditions. The accumulation of run of mine ore, which is a large stock item, stabilized at 460,000 tonnes, and we preferentially milled Merensky during the December break. Work continues on expanding plant capacity, and we have recently received, I should say, finally received permitting from government for the expansion of the South tailings dam. This is the remaining bottleneck for an increase in the milling rate and an 18-month construction period will follow. Overall, production at Booysendal improved by 2.7% limiting the unit cost increase to 7%. Capital expenditure was just under ZAR 700 million, mostly sustaining and in line with our expected ongoing stay-in business capital requirements. Our forecast for the remainder of the year is ZAR 610 million, mainly on machine replacement. Incidentally, Booysendal runs the largest underground mechanized fleet in the country. At Eland, the mining ramp-up continues. We now have 37 production teams on the face which will eventually rise to 67 production teams at steady state. Underground tonnage has increased on schedule and recoveries continue to improve as we optimize the concentrator circuit and more run of mine is presented to the mill. Production increased by 15% to 37,000 ounces in concentrate together with a further 26,000 tonnes from third parties. Unit cash costs inflated by 6.1%, the natural outcome of onboarding the new crews during this ramp-up phase. Eland is becoming a significant crown producer with Chrome yields reaching 25% by the end of December. And we now forecast 250,000 tonnes for the full year, a significant increase from the previous estimates, once again, underlining the quality of this ore body. We will undergo a planned ventilation changeover in June which will then allow multi blast conditions and will enable us to derisk and accelerate decline development, again, derisking the ramp-up schedule. The inherent value of Eland is compelling. This is a picture of the UG2 reef. This is a world-class ore body by any measure. 160 centimeters average with each square meter mined contains 1 ounce of PGM and 2 tonnes of chrome. Importantly, Platinum, Rhodium and Ruthenium make up 80% of the metal split. And over the coming 30 years, this shallow mine will only reach an average depth of 350 meters below surface. Access via declines at 10 degrees is a distinct advantage. The production teams in place including the many new established crews are averaging 300 centers per month per crew per month, with seasoned crews breaking over 400 centers per month. On top of this, the mining extraction is now proven at 80%. That's a very high number. The mining people in the audience will understand the significance of these numbers. Eland will become a very successful mine. But as with all mining projects, it requires investment, and it takes time. Eland will reach its full potential in 2029, and we are building this mine for the next decade where we foresee a great requirement for new production, given the now obvious accelerating depletion of the older South African production base. This is a picture of nickel sulfate produced in the newly expanded crystallizer at the base metal removal plant. The BMR expansion is almost complete and sized for our future group production requirements of around 1.2 million ounces. In case you were wondering, we didn't accidentally issue odd gloves. This is, in fact, part of an industry-wide safety campaign to alert people to stop or go in noisy environments. This picture shows the metallurgical complex at Zondereinde, with the area to the South cleared for the construction of our first 80-megawatt solar farm. Each year, this facility will produce 220,000 megawatt hours of secure, behind-the-meter electrical energy reducing annual carbon emissions by 220,000 tonnes and reducing energy costs by 15%. Construction has begun and power will flow towards the end of this calendar year. We have recently signed 2 further renewable energy agreements. These being 140 megawatts from the Karreebosch Wind Farm close to Sutherland, and another 80 megawatts of wheeled solar power, both scheduled to be operating in 2027. By then, 900,000 megawatt hours or 60% of all energy used at all our operations will be renewable. And we will have reduced the group's carbon intensity by 60% from the 2019 baseline. In today's terms, we will save around ZAR 700 million per annum into perpetuity, and we don't plan to stop there. We are actively pursuing other initiatives to further reduce our environmental impact and assist with cost control. As in the size, it's also worth noting the accumulation of stock next to the smelter house. Here is a layout of the first 80-megawatt solar plant. And just to give a sense of scale, this plant will cover 170 hectares and we still have plenty of real estate for more. We spent ZAR 2.6 billion per annum on power, and we have a longer-term aspiration to half this amount. I'll now hand you over to Aletta to take us through the financials.

Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everybody. This picture is from a project that is very close to my heart. One of my fondest memories from my dim and distant school days was choosing new stationery in the beginning of each year. We have recreated this experience for 1,300 children from our host communities, hopefully, exciting them about their new school year. This initiative paid for by donations from our senior employees is over and above the numerous community programs that we fund as a company, details of which can be found in our interim results booklet. Looking at the key financial features for the period under review. Under the prevailing market conditions, our focus remains firmly rooted in operational efficiencies, productivity and cost control. In this regard, we have been assisted by our improved scale, flexibility and ultimately, our business resilience. Softer metal prices and the impact of the rebuild of furnace to on-sales volumes led to a 3.1% decrease in sales revenue to ZAR 14.5 billion and an operating profit significantly reduced from the previous comparable period. EBITDA was similarly affected and this together with our continuing investments in organic growth led to an increase in net debt to ZAR 6.1 billion. Basic earnings per share and headline earnings per share for the period amounted to just over ZAR 0.61. Looking now at revenue. As previously mentioned, this year's revenue is lopsided due to the furnace rebuild and amounted to ZAR 14.5 billion for the first half. This is a ZAR 500 million decrease on the previous comparable period and is predominantly attributable to a 3.3% decrease in the rand basket price mainly on the back of rand strengthening. The impact of the currently depressed prices on revenue and the resulted profitability is obvious and we await clear signal for correction. We expect higher sales volumes in the second half as the impact of the furnace rebuild normalizes. It is also important to note that despite softening prices, chrome still contributed 12.5% or ZAR 1.8 billion to our revenue. Looking now at cost of sales. Sales revenue decreased by 3.1% while cost of sales increased by 6.9%. This led to a squeeze in our operating profit to ZAR 1.1 billion at an operating margin of 7.5%. Movements in the individual elements making up cost of sales include mining operating cost increased by 11.9%, thus is attributable to an 8.2% increase in square meters mined together with an average wage increase of approximately 6.5%. Concentrating costs increased by 11.7% as a result of a 3.3% increase in tonnes milled together with additional cost associated new slag plant at Zondereinde. Smelter and base metal removal plant costs increased by 6.4%, owing to the increase in the electricity tariff, which was offset by a decrease in the total tonnes smelted due to the smelter rebuild. The total cost of purchased concentrate and recycling material decreased by 28% to ZAR 1.5 billion, with a corresponding decrease in the volumes purchased. Refining costs decreased by 1.9% to ZAR 208.5 million on the back of lower refined volumes. Depreciation based mainly on the unit of production method, increased with the expanded capital base of group. And lastly, the change in metal inventory relates to an increase in the quantum of metal ounces capitalized to the balance sheet. Additionally, unit cost inflation need to be considered in the context of our various major cost components. Labor represents almost half of our operating cost and we have 5-year wage agreements in place at all of our operations. Furthermore, utilities make up approximately 12% of our cost. And we've had to absorb double-digit tariff increases for both electricity and water. Just these 2 items alone represent cost inflation of almost 5%. And without either a reduction in our workforce or the use of electricity or water, each of which would have negatively impacted production volumes, this inflation was fixed. As Paul has mentioned, we are actively pursuing alternative energy initiatives to reduce our electricity cost and he will talk to other initiatives later on, but we will only start to see the benefits of these from the second half of the coming financial year. Moving on to the income statement. The group generated a profit before tax of ZAR 526.5 million and accounted for a tax charge of ZAR 287 million inclusive of deferred tax, resulting in a profit for the period of ZAR 240 million. Despite the reduced profits of the group, Booysendal still pay tax to the value of more than ZAR 400 million, demonstrating its value. And in addition, the group paid 223 million royalties. Moving on to working capital management. By the end of December, total inventory had increased to just under 530,000 ounces with a carrying value of ZAR 9.2 billion and after applying the basket price and exchange rate at the end of December, the sales value of around ZAR 15.1 billion, a significant asset on our balance sheet. In context, 10 years ago, we had 90,000 ounces of inventory with sales value of ZAR 1.1 billion, the increase is a natural consequence of the significant growth in our production base over the past decade and our off stated principle of mining first, metallurgy second. Our current forecast is for inventory levels at year-end to be between 480,000 and 500,000 4E ounces with a further destocking of around 100,000 ounces over the following 3 years. It is important to note that our inventory has not been sold forward, is not incumbent in any way and should be considered in relation to our debt levels. Looking at the group's cash flow. Over the period, our cash balance decreased by ZAR 3.5 billion. The items impacting the movement in cash include our operations generating ZAR 419.2 million, and this is despite the current market underlying the resilience we have bought. This was impacted by negative working capital movements amounting to ZAR 1.2 billion relating to a buildup of inventory and the settlement of trade and other payables before the December close as well as mining inflation and the furnace rebuilt. Investing activities included ZAR 2.4 billion spent on CapEx, mainly in the execution of the group's growth strategy, building a sustainable business well into the future. Financing activities included dividend payments totaling ZAR 273 million, and we will continue to declare dividends in terms of our policy, considering the requirements of the Companies Act. We also settled DMTNs and paid interest relating to our DMTN program. These movements culminated in the cash balance at period end of ZAR 4 billion. As of 31 December, net debt totaled ZAR 6.1 billion and taking into account 12 months rolling EBITDA of ZAR 4.9 billion, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio amounted to 1.26. We have undrawn banking facilities of ZAR 12.3 billion available to the group, maintaining a strong liquidity position during those critical time. In addition, the Board retains the option to issue new DMTNs, having given due consideration to market conditions, our cash position and our growth profile. Our responsibility to all stakeholders is the long-term sustainability of the business. And so within the framework of short-term volatility, our principal consideration for capital allocation is the longer term; this is not always the most popular or the easiest path to follow, but it is a mining fundamental. We have consistently demonstrated an ability to prudently apply capital in the pursuit of growth and sustainability. We have world-class ore bodies in our asset base. We have built Booysendal, and we are currently developing Eland and Zondereinde for success well into the future operations that will produce PGMs into an already depleting supply market. Whilst we appreciate the need to navigate the current difficult market conditions, we are a mining company and as such, it is imperative that we and indeed, our responsibility to continue as far as possible to apply capital for long-term sustainability because we are a mining company. I will now hand you back to Paul to take you through the operational guidance.

Thank you, Aletta. As I mentioned earlier, we continue to implement a range of smaller scale capital upgrades to the Met facilities, incrementally improving recoveries of PGM and chrome. Here are 2 of them on this photograph. In the rear, you can see the recently commissioned, it's on your left, recently commissioned expansions to the chrome recovery plant. It's Zondereinde at this time. This has improved chrome yields to over 40% and has added significant flexibility. Zondereinde is now expected to produce 490,000 tonnes of chrome concentrate this year. In the foreground is the UG2 Scavenger plant, and this has improved UG2 PGM recoveries to 89%, and both upgrades have already paid back their capital costs. In line with our growth profile, our current guidance for the year is as follows: PGM production from own operations, unit cash costs and sales remain unchanged from August; however, purchases from third parties is upgraded to between 90,000 and 100,000 ounces 4E. And this is based on actual deliveries received. With improved yields, we expect chrome sales to improve to 1.5 million tonnes and allowing full commitment of both Eland and the 3-shaft project, our forecast capital is ZAR 4.6 billion. Moving on to the market and prices. The average basket price that we've received for all our metals has stabilized over the course of the last 18 months and appears to have found the floor at around ZAR 32,000 per 4E ounce. Spot today is just under ZAR 33,000 per 4E ounce. This is placing pressure on miners as well as refiners and recyclers and the impact on the world's PGM industry should not be underestimated. This is a very challenging price environment. And in our considered opinion, the longer this market condition persists, the greater the correction will be. As long as there is no further deterioration, we will continue to invest through the cycle as we have done very successfully in the previous downturn. This market will turn. And we believe that Platinum has a growing supply deficit. This slide shows a snapshot of our view of the platinum market balance for 2025 calendar year excluding investment activity. On the supply side, SA will continue to dominate, but an aging production base and a dearth of new projects is unable to maintain volumes. And South Africa will require further destocking in 2025, just to reach 3.8 million ounces. This should perhaps be contextualized against historic production levels from South Africa of around 5.4 million ounces. There already has been a very, very significant decline in South African production. Recycling is suffering from very poor or negative margins and low scrapping rates. And this will persist in the current price environment. In contrast, we expect demand to be strong and diversified. In auto catalysis, platinum is less exposed to BEV penetration in China and is benefiting from significant substitution of palladium in light-duty vehicles. Industrial demand for platinum continues to grow in new applications adding to well-established areas of demand such as chemicals and glass. Critically, jewelry demand has stabilized, with strong growth outside of China. And the current price differential against white gold presents an opportunity to recapture market share. Our estimates suggest a rather large fundamental market deficit of 15% or 1 million ounces. This cannot be balanced indefinitely by sales from the vault. In addition, we maintain our view that primary platinum supply has and will continue to decline. In this slide, we compare our current view, that's the middle line, to the view we presented in December 2021. That's the top dotted line. And it is clear that the economic factors at play already exerted significant further downward pressure. This is a live model, of course, and we adjust our projections to account for shaft closures or suspended projects resulting in a steeper decline. Current market conditions are likely to exacerbate this outlook and the concrete supply deficit will continue to grow. We've opted to discuss the platinum market today, but I must indicate that in our opinion the Rhodium market has tightened up, keep an eye on it. While we are a focused PGM miner, our revenue base is demonstrably diversified when we consider the contributions of each metal. Interestingly, the revenue split for the period showed platinum being out a significant contributor despite depressed pricing. And Rhodium, which appears to have found a floor still generates 1/4 of revenue. The contributions of Chrome and the so-called minor PGMs, Ruthenium and Iridium have also become very significant in the mix. We would like to highlight the investors that the group's diversified revenue split allied to our volume expansion provides significant optionality into the future. We've made some bold commitments over the past decade and on the whole, we have delivered on those promises. As we approach our initial growth target of 1 million ounces, we are placing added focus on efficiencies and cost savings, but we'll only consider those that are sustainable and not detrimental to the future production base. We have looked across the full span of our business and have identified 5 key areas for longer-term sustainable business improvement. Firstly, our electricity bill currently makes up 12% of the cost and we're moving very, very quickly now to alternative and renewable energy supplies. This will reduce our bill -- electricity bill by 25% by 2027. And as I said earlier, we aspire to further reductions by the end of the decade. Our improving chrome yields will take us to 1.8 million tonnes by 2029, and you can pencil in 1.6 million tonnes for 2026 for the moment. We will utilize the large milling capacity at Eland to process additional UG2 from Zondereinde, where the existing concentrator constrains mining volumes. This will benefit both Zondereinde and Eland. We are currently, as we speak, milling 70,000 tonnes of excess UG2 on a trial basis. PGM recoveries and chrome yields are very quickly matched and on some days exceeded those of Zondereinde. As a secondary benefit, of course, this proves up the Eland concentrator. We've identified common consumable items across the group, and we intend to streamline procurement using group contracts to benefit from scale. Finally we are approaching the end of an intense growth face and we will start to see a reduction in the contractor headcount over the coming years. We have, over the course of the past decade, followed a consistent strategy applying capital to grow volumes, whilst reducing operational risk, particularly through geographic diversification and mechanization. Our strategy as we've often said, is to grow safe production down the cost curve, and it's premised on our belief in the metals that we produce. The world really needs PGMs. And that demand must be met primarily from sustainable mining operations. Recycling has its own economic challenges and clearly cannot be relied upon in isolation. Our consistent approach has built a strong, sustainable foundation and places the group in very competitive and strategically strong position. There's an old expression in our business. You're either in mining or you're not. There are no half measures. And by that definition, Northem is, without question, a mining company. Thank you, everybody. Before we go to questions, this is a bird's eye view of the new stacker or stacker recliner in construction at the Booysendal South mine. Ore stock, by the way, or some of it is clearly visible at the top of the picture. This will be commissioned in October and will improve both mills throughput, as well as overall recovery because it allows us to separate the Merensky and the UG2 ore streams prior to the mill. I also want to point out for scale. There is a big grain in the middle there, just to give you an idea of that site is quite a big site. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal presentation for today. I hope you found it informative and interesting. We can now move on to the Q&A. Starting in the room, perhaps, followed by the phone lines, and then Damian will help us with the webcast. If I could please ask that you introduce yourself when you receive the microphone or get called upon and let us know which organization you represent before you ask the question. Let's see, Chris in the room, then Bruce, then [ Ferrard ], then Rene, let's take those 4 first.

A couple of questions from me. So just specifically on the inventories. So I know, obviously, inventories have built over the last number of years as the mining footprint is scaled, but it has built clearly ahead of, I think, where a normalized level is. Just as a result of that, just the one thing I've been thinking about on the third-party POX, have you -- as Northern maybe overextended itself on that to some degree? I mean it doesn't seem completely logical to have to be putting all that third-party park through it at a lower margin, when it's constraining maybe the cash utilization of your own production. Linked to that, obviously, it looks like you may be getting the Ivanplats material later this year. So kind of what does that mean for the third party? Linked to that as well? And maybe one for Alet, just on the 55,000 ounces that built this year, I see the charge through the credit through the income statement is ZAR 500 million, that looks quite low against what you value the rest of inventory at. So maybe if you could explain that? And just last one, just the tailings dam at Booysendal. What does that mean in terms of the future Booysendal production outlook? Does it follow immediately that maybe the Merensky shaft or the BS IV shaft will start ramping up once that is in place?

Thanks, Chris. Let's deal with the third-party question first. I think it's easier, as you probably can see from this one alone. That has nothing to do with smelting. There's 0.5 million tonnes of run-of-mine stock there, which hasn't yet even reached the smelter and there's been similar stock builds at Eland mine. And the current stock position is not in primary concentrate. It's in intermediate products, in particular, slag. And as you know, last year, March, we've only very recently commissioned a slag treatment project. So there's quite a few ounces in that material, which is yet to hit the smelter. Interestingly, on third party, the business case for third-party, I think is a good way to -- I'll give you a good way to think about it. Third-party margins are extremely defensive in a low market condition because the nature of the contracts are that the margin is protected. As price comes down, you retain the absolute margin, not the absolute profit, but the absolute margin. Of course, mining margins can go negative. Just to give you a feel for why third-party business is in occasions like this, in particular, very, very defensive and quite beneficial for us. In terms of capacity, of course, really, for the first time in post August, the smelting capacity is now running ahead of both the mining and the third-party deliveries for the very first time in this whole 10 years of growth. So what I'm trying to indicate there is we are on top of it. On the Ivanplats material, it's a lovely material. I can't say that too lightly. I'm sure Ivanplats will -- want for better rates here, but it is a heavy sulfide ore body, which makes it very sweet for the furnace mix. So we do -- we will be appreciating, I would suggest, the 100,000 ounces from Ivanplats beginning the end of this calendar year and the latest forecast. Alet, do you want to take the next one?

Just in terms of inventory valuation, we'd always try and be as conservative as possible. With regard to inventory, there's a number of things that impact that. And one of it is the mix. We have a lot more inventory from Booysendal now with Booysendal in its steady state, which is a much lower cost product that is then in the mix. We also had an inventory write-off that's disclosed in the financial statements relating to the inventory from [ lot ] that all impacts that inventory charge. But there's quite a lot of detail in the note of the booklet. Thanks.

Yes, I think at the point we were trying to make also in the let's portion is, of course, the inventory is completely unencumbered in any way. And it is a very, very real asset and a very substantial asset on this balance sheet that was not there prior to the growth program, and we would like the investment community to think about that carefully. Bruce.

Bruce Williamson, Integral Asset Management. Paul, you gave us some stoping numbers for Eland, 300 square meters per crew per month. Can you give us similar numbers for -- to comped Zondereinde on average and Booysendal?

Very comparable. Booysendal, of course, would not be applicable because it's mechanized, so we use a different metric there, but very, very comparable to the Zondereinde numbers. In the Western extension in particular, Zondereinde, those crews are hitting well over 400 meters. 400 square meters per team per month. Also a very, very good performance.

So the Western side is making a big difference?

It is making a big difference here. If you present the ore to the teams, our people can mine.

[indiscernible]. Maybe a little bit of more high level, Paul, there seems to be a huge competition for skills at the moment. We here other mining companies having hired this competition for skills. I mean, how do you address this in the longer term? How does it impact your labor cost? Where is -- what's the endgame, I guess?

Yes. It's -- I would agree that's a very relevant question, which we have come across, in particular, this year at Northam. The Board is well cited on this issue, and we've had a number of discussions at Board level as to what we are prepared to do and what we are not prepared to do, what we're not prepared to do is a lower ratcheting mechanism, so if a valued skill does get targeted, we will not go outside our wage structure because it might disrupt everybody, and this is why we sort of thought about it like that. We do believe at Northam, we pay a very fair basic wage, very fair in our opinion. We do benchmark these numbers, by the way, independently from ourselves. We also think that the incentive structure is fit. And on that basis, if we find ourselves out of the market, then we have to concede that at that particular time for that particular skill set or that particular individual, we might be out of the market. We don't like it, [ Ferrard ] I must be honest with you. We don't like losing our people, but we have lost 1 or 2 senior people recently to the competition. And we've closed the ranks as it were through internal promotions. I'll make mention of the fact that we lost Willy to Anglo. I think it's fairly -- very -- everybody would know that. I think Willy will make a good addition to the Anglo's table. He Is a very, very confident miner, but we've also promoted Wonderboy Kekana into that position. He is also an excellent miner with a vast experience both elsewhere, but in particular, over the last 10 years at Booysendal itself Wonder, ramped up the North mine, and he also ramped up the south mine. And he has now the opportunity to become the mining executive for the Eastern Limb, which we're very pleased about.

And underground staff, I mean, do you see turnover -- big turnover there? Or is it...

Less so, but there is turnover. Typical turnover rates would if I've stretched in my mind back it's around 4% to 5% is a typical number for what we would call acceptable turnover, if there is such a thing and then we had Rene next, I think.

You're always good at the market. You're always pretty good at rhodium price forecast. You said a funny thing there, not a funny thing, but a strange thing. What's the roading price? What do you mean by that? Also, you've given a good outlook for platinum, but what do you think about palladium? Then another question, U.S. sanctions on South African PGMs. What do you think of that? And then maybe a question for Alet. The revenue split the ZAR 14.5 billion in the first half. Should we look at that like about being 40% of the total for the year?

I'll be very surprised on the sanction issue, Rene, unhappily surprised if that happens. We do produce our ore bodies contain 80% plus/minus of the world's platinum. It seems to be unlikely that it would be sanctioned. It's a very, very strategic and important metal for the U.S. as well as the rest of the world. What's the first question again, just to remind me -- just -- rhodium yes, the metals. So rhodium does seem to have tightened up a little bit. We think we know why that's happened. I will report a few snippets. The OEMs are back in the market after a long, long absence. And you have seen a couple of little tick ups in the -- if you look at the JM reference price, you'll see it there. But no excitement yet. What we're saying is what it does seem to be tightening.

Is the glass maker stocks gone -- inventory gone?

A lot of it has gone, but there's still hold stocks, but I think they hold stocks because at this price, they see value. So I think the remaining stocks with the glass makers are held. They do need rhodium in the future, as you know, as those crucibles get replaced. On palladium, I must be straight about it. It's our least favorite metal, the reason is twofold. One is because palladium is the metal that gets -- has been badly affected by the Chinese -- the EV penetration. That's a gasoline market or a petrol market, as you know and palladium is used heavily in China, and it's been displaced by the batteries. So there's -- on the demand side, we think the Chinese demand has suffered quite heavily from probably a peak of well over 2 million ounces to really mid-1.5 million ounces now. That's a lot of market loss on palladium. And the second point is the Norilsk ore body is just too good. Again, in our humble opinion, I think, Norilsk ore mine for nickel and copper, they produce palladium. A lot of it as a byproduct. You are aware we have visited the last 2 years back into to the Norilsk mine itself, we are pretty convinced that when Norilsk they all say they're going to produce 2.7 million ounces, they will produce 2.7 million ounces. We look to the lines for questions before we go to the webcast.

We have 2 questions. The first question comes from Jason Fairclough of Bank of America.

As the others have said, it's always very informative. 2 slightly different questions for me. One is just on chrome. It really seems like the dynamic is changing here. We've got some of the traditional chrome producers under pressure and yet PGM producers increasing production. How much further can the dynamic go? So that's the first question. Second one, just on the renewable question. If we look elsewhere in the world, what we see is that renewable energy has a very low cost of capital. And when I think about mining capital, I don't necessarily think about that as being a low cost of capital. So do you want to build these things and keep them? Or would you consider selling them to somebody else and then just buying the power?

Jason, on your second question there. We have used IPPs, Independent Power Producers on these projects, but we have written into the contract option to buy after a relatively short period of time. So we assess that later on in the program. Let's get going first. That's the way we see it. And we agree with your points about capital application. We're a miner, Alet made that point very clearly. And we should be applying capital in the first instance to mining. And that's certainly the way we see it. The returns and the cost of capital for renewables is like utility type hurdle rates. So it's a slightly different business model, a very different business model actually to mining. But that's all view we do have options to purchase. And we intend to do much more than what we've announced today. On the Chrome question, that's also a very relevant and interesting question. As you know, the PGM miners produce chrome as a byproduct from the UG2 ore body, which you've seen once a day on the screen. So the -- our production costs if you want to think about it like that is very low relative to primary mining of chrome underground. But one must just bear in mind that chrome is actually part of the basket. And if you really wanted to, we could assign some mining cost even to our production. We just don't choose to do that because the cost is fully absorbed on the PGM side. But the reason this is happening or has happened over many years now is because the cost of power in Mongolia is very, very cheap. It is a fraction of the cost of power in South Africa. And one of the largest cost inputs for ferrochrome conversion is, of course, power and effectively, we are moving chrome ore beneficiated to a point, about 40% chrome all the way to Durban, Mapuche all the way to the China ports all the way [ England ], which is another 1,000-plus kilometers to Mongolia and it's still cheaper to do it that way than convert in South Africa. And unfortunately, that's a direct result of the increasing power costs that we've experienced as a country. It's a great illustration of how power is a fundamental competitive advantage or not for a company -- for a country, excuse me, and I do believe probably you're going to see more of the same over the coming few years. Thanks, Jason. We have one more question maybe? Or was that it? We go to the -- let's just clear the lines and then we'll go to the web.

We have a question from Adrian Hammond of SBG.

Your strategy certainly sets you apart from your peers, where you have been cutting costs and stripping CapEx, certainly, you are being far more bold. Can you give content shareholders that the balance sheet can handle this for some time until the market turns. And then just on Eland, where do you think breakeven -- when do you think the Eland could break even on a free cash basis?

The Eland question is relatively easy one. 30% up from here on either volume or price or a combination thereof, please bear in mind that Eland is in its early ramp-up phase, but that's the number. The volumes are not yet -- they're not quite half from the underground situation and of course, the price is depressed at this stage. So a combination of on revenue of a 30% increase, either through volume or through price or commission thereof, we'll give it a breakeven. On the balance sheet side, I have my board members here with me. Of course, we opine on that on a very regular basis. So I think we can do the job. We're pretty sure. In fact, we feel that it's time to press home the advantage, if I can say that. Thanks, Adrian. Can we go to the webcast if there are no more line questions? Damian?

First from Shashi Shekar from Citi. And just asking about the impact of heavy rains at Zondereinde and [indiscernible] to suspend its production there?

Yes, that's very true. And a very good point that you've made the rains in the area where at least one in 30 storm. Many roads were washed away. The R51 was washed. The Bela-Bela road was 2 meters under water. A lot of water in the shaft systems, including ours. We lost a couple of shifts, morning shift, I think it was the Tuesday and -- we're just about maybe got half of afternoon shift on the Tuesday. So we did lose production because of the water ingress, but the caps used a lot of sand bagging and stop the water ingress pretty quickly, and we do have sufficient pumping ability at the Zondereinde to train that water. So we didn't lose shaft bottom. That's always very, very important. Unfortunately, there has been, as you know, as you've said, some more difficult situations. And I just want to defend those 2 mines. They are surface outlet mines, whereas Zondereinde is slightly easier. We have the vertical shaft systems, which only exit the surface at a single point. So easier to control at [ Zondereinde ] and Amandelbult of course, they have added environment there. So it's a little bit more difficult. I've got no doubt that they will overcome that pretty quickly. And just to make a point, we have added and given assistance to our neighbors.

Arnold from Nedbank asks. The continuing investment in the current market in Eland, how is that testing your balance sheet? Can you continue to push ahead with Eland current basket price? And at what point would you consider slowing the investment to Eland?

A further 10% reduction in the rand basket price would lead us to that decision. That's for sure. We can carry it at the moment. I would like you to also think about it as an investment, not a cost. It's too tempting to think about it as a cost. Remember, we're making a mining investment here. And as a sort of counter poised point I would like to make is show me another project that at that capital cost in that time frame can deliver those ounces. The answer you will come to is there are not. It's a very attractive project on a relative basis.

[indiscernible] states that you're still tracking behind your medium-term greenhouse gas emission targets by a mile. How much progress have you made towards the predetermined medium-term target and you remember Paul that was 60% by the end of the decade. And to what extent our initiatives in place to reduce emissions and how will they impact unit cash cost, particularly at Zondereinde.

Yes. Very good question. So 25% of power and power is 12% of unit cost. So that gives you a feel for the magnitude of what we can do -- the interesting thing about renewables is when you embark upon it, and what we have found, and I'm sure others have found it, it does -- it is a very complex commercial and legislative environment, it's really complicated. There are many counterparties typically, and we're dealing with many departments of government and also Eskom themselves, who have signing power over some of these permissions and one must accept that we are effectively in direct competition with Eskom, when we do this. So the way it actually works in practice is, it takes a long time to generate the paperwork to get to the point where you can get financial closure. And in that period, we've created a lot of intellectual property in our opinion, as to what should work for us, what does work and what is the best outcome with the best tariffs, the best mix? Should we wheel, should we be behind the meat. So all that work has been going on like ELD in the background. It's desktop work and office type work, but we've brought it to fruition now to the point where it happens very, very quickly from here, as I've tried to explain in the presentation. Northam has the potential literally to half our power bill in the coming years. At the moment, we promised 25%. That's our nature. But we also indicate our aspiration that this is our opinion, given what we now know and what we've seen, that we may, in actual fact be able to halve that power bill.

Maybe just, Paul, our committed projects will reach the 60% end-of-decade target by 2027. There's one other question. It's from Peter he's not given his last name from [indiscernible]. Will Northern be using its unencumbered inventory to accelerate deleveraging. Can you speak to upcoming debt maturities and refinancing requirements?

Maybe Alet will answer that one. Thanks, Damian.

As I mentioned in our results presentation, our inventory is not encumbered. We have not solved forward any of our inventory, and we won't be doing that. We have other ways of means of funding. We've got a ZAR 12.3 billion facility with our banking and syndicate. And in terms of the DMTNs, ZAR 3.7 billion will come due and payable on the 11th of May. We will settle those notes. However, the Board -- at that point in time, will opine on whether we issue new notes. There is quite a lot of interest from the market, which Northam has been phoned up to ask if we'll be issuing your notes. But that is something that the Board will opine on at that point in time.

That's all the questions, Paul.

Thanks, Damian. Lost my place now, but as you join us for a cup of tea in the foyer. I hope that the video that we're going to put on loop, gives you some sense of scale for the work at 3 shaft under capital investment that we've made on your behalf. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. We'll see you in the foyer.